#4
BBC Monitoring
Russians lose trust in authorities - poll
Source: NTV, Moscow, in Russian 1600 gmt 29 Mar 02

An opinion poll carried out by VTsIOM, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, showed a "considerable decline in the level of trust" in the authorities at all levels, the Russian NTV channel said on 29 March. At the same time, President Vladimir Putin's popularity is still high with 72 per cent of those polled still supporting him, against 75 per cent in February. The number of those who are not satisfied with his policy is up by 4 per cent, i.e. 24 per cent.

In contrast, only 45 per cent of those polled support Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov against 54 per cent in February. The number of people supporting the Russian government as a whole also declined, as has declined support for the pro-Kremlin One Russia centrist party (21 per cent).